Corporal
by Ranowa Hikura
Summary: Badly injured, miles outside the walls, and not expecting a rescue, Eren and Levi are left with nothing but waiting to die. Surprisingly, Levi is the talkative one.
1. Chapter 1

No manga spoilers :) No real pairings, either, though if you want, you can read it as implied Eren/Levi. Twoshot, probably. My first Shingeki no Kyoshi fanfiction. Enjoy :)

* * *

Levi really looked okay.

If Eren just kept his attention on just his legs and his arms... maybe he could even include the tips of his sweat soaked black hair... if that was all he looked at, then the elite corporal was just resting.

Sitting back helplessly, Eren gave up ignoring the cold blood that was still soaking through his uniform. Denial may be helping the bubble of pain that was still trying to expand inside his chest, but it wasn't helping Levi, and that meant he couldn't waste time on it.

The Titan had nearly shredded the corporal's side. This was so far beyond his level of expertise there was nothing that could even be done; there weren't even enough bandages to cover the damage- all he could do was give his cloak as a barrier between Levi's head and the hard branch that was their safe haven and hope the corporal was as numb as he felt.

He chanced a look at Levi's face, hoping to see hazy tiredness, or just something that wasn't pained, and sighed in quiet relief. Levi's eyes were half open, usually steely gaze unfocused and blinking blearily at the sky. His pale features, while slick with sweat, were slack, and his breaths, while ragged, did come easily. He was awake and aware- but past the point of feeling pain.

Levi's breaths hitched, then, the shaky pattern being broken by a quick gasp and a choked off cry. His chest heaved and a spasm racked through his slim frame, curving his spine and lifting him up off the branch in a short moment of agony before he dropped back at last- breaths now even weaker than before.

Unable to bear much more, Eren shut his eyes tight and turned his head away.

_I'm so sorry..._

"H-how's your... h-h-hands?"

So soft he had to strain his ears to hear it, so surprising it shocked him out of his guilt, because Levi should've been beyond words at this point, and Eren found himself obediently following orders and opening his eyes to be able to answer the question. His vision was blurry, and he had to blink a few times until his eyes and cheeks felt wet but he could see again, and he found himself staring at the two steaming stumps of his wrists. No semblance of hands had even regrown yet.

He looked hesitantly, regretfully, back at Levi's wounds, which were not steaming, because he couldn't heal himself, and had to turn away through another stab of guilt. "They're not bad," he whispered hoarsely, shifting to put himself in between Levi's line of vision and his hands so the corporal couldn't see the lie. "Coming back quickly."

"And your legs?"

Eren looked down without thought, too accustomed to following Levi's every command to even think about it anymore, to be greeted by the sight of his knees and nothing beyond that. He swallowed uneasily. "Same."

"Y-you'll... be okay... once night comes?"

Eren kept his eyes away from Levi's. He didn't have enough experience with his Titan power to know how long this healing would take, but the orange rays of the glowing ball of fire in the sky and the fact that he was still missing half the bones in his arms and legs told him that no, he wouldn't be okay once night came. He probably wouldn't be okay once morning came.

And he lied again.

"Yes. I'll be fine."

Because Levi didn't need even more to worry about.

"_There's a fifteen meter class Titan coming from the south, sir!" _

"_Two others from the west! One looks like it's over fifteen meters!" _

_Eren licked his suddenly dry lips and bent lower over his horse, trying to go even faster, and looked to Levi. The corporal still led the pack, and Eren watched fearfully as their leader didn't even look to see the threats for himself- he just kept on moving. "We keep going! Eren, you are not to shift under any circumstances. If they get close, squad one, you handle the one from the south. Squad two, you handle the ones from the west." _

"_But, Corporal-"_

"_No, Eren. If they see you shift, you become the target."_

Eren looked morosely out from their tiny patch of safety, eyes scanning the horizon worriedly. They were high enough up that Titans wouldn't be able to reach them- for now. If any Aberrants came along, though, they were done for, and even the normal ones weren't leaving. The crowd of monsters below still crowded around the trees, and a few had even started trying to climb them. It was late enough, though, that it wouldn't be long before the Titans were out of action. They were safe until morning.

It was also too late for any rescue missions, though; any hope of help did not exist _until morning_. They were trapped and helpless and _safe_ until then- but Levi probably wouldn't last that long.

But there was no way to get back to the walls sooner. They had no horses. They had only one partially usable set of 3D MG. And until he healed, he couldn't transform into a Titan again. If they tried to leave now, Eren would only a) get them lost, and then b) get them eaten.

_Levi... Levi's dying... and I can't do anything to help him... _

_Oh, my god... Levi's going to die. _

"I'm really sorry... I'm r-really sorry, s-sir..."

_If I had just followed orders..._

"I'm s-sorry..."

But the injured corporal didn't bother to give his Eren's apology a verbal response. Speaking had to be an ordeal by now, and anything he said was going to be dammed important, and he wasn't going to waste what strength he had. The dark glare the corporal levied on him was enough of a reprimand.

Not that it was much of a glare; his half-lidded eyes had lost a lot of their power to stare someone down, and Levi was only barely able to maintain it for a second before they flickered shut. The corporal forced them open again but now his tired gaze roamed to the leaves above, tired and fading, the black eyes somehow, even blacker when framed by his bloodless face. It looked cold and clammy, short locks of hair plastered to his skin with sweat.

And then his mouth opened again, and Levi, his voice heavy and shaking, began again. "Mikasa. W-why is she... th... best?"

Eren's eyes widened. The statement was something so far out of the blue that he thought he had just misheard him, but there was nothing in Levi's empty expression to support that. The soldier was still just staring at the sky, now waiting for an answer, and Eren found himself left shocked into silence before he finally managed to gasp, "Corporal?!"

"Mikasa."

Slowly, Eren shook his head, his reforming hand dropping numbly to fall onto Levi's. It was cold and limp, and Eren found himself squeezing tightly, the skeleton of his hand gripping the bony one before him, trying to somehow just hold Levi here with him and keep him _alive. _"Sir, don't talk now; you have to conserve your strength- I- I'll think of something, just give me a little bit of time! But until then-"

"Mikasa."

"_They're Aberrants! CORPORAL! THEY'RE ALL ABERRANTS!" _

_Eren cursed and looked back again at the approaching threats. They were faster than normal Titans- too fast for them to be able to outrun them. _

"_Sir!" another soldier screamed, his voice cracking on panic. "Sir, they're catching up! We have to do something! SIR! DO SOMETHING!" _

_And once again, Levi didn't even turn back to look at the danger. "If they're Aberrants there's a good chance they're already after Eren. When they get close enough to engage, do so. Eren, stay with me. We keep going."_

"_But Corporal-"_

"_I said, we keep going."_

"Mikasa."

Levi's calls were getting more and more insistent now, his features more strained and his voice more worried, and all Eren wanted to do was to keep the corporal calm and quiet, and so he just started talking. Levi had turned stubborn over Mikasa suddenly, her name abruptly all the injured corporeal could focus on, and maybe if he just answered his question he would relax and rest- something he desperately needed. "She's the best because she's not afraid," he answered without hesitation, immediately following orders- maybe even hoping to distract Levi from the agony that he had to be in. _Just give him a moment's peace, please, god..._

"She's not afraid of being eaten or killed. So, she's not afraid to take risks."

"Why?"

Eren frowned. That wasn't a question he could answer; that was for Mikasa to decide to answer and Mikasa alone. But Levi looked like he was fighting to focus now, his features pale with exhaustion and his eyes, slowly drooping closed every few seconds- his breaths, now like he was beginning to have to fight for each one. And he was fighting to be able to ask these questions about Mikasa. Whatever his reasons for being insistent about this were, they had to be serious; the skeleton of his hand gripped Levi's tighter, but even as Eren tried to keep the corporal calm, he knew he couldn't break Mikasa's confidence. Not about this.

"...It's in her file."

But Levi shook his head, the motion weak and stubborn, his eyes closed and his breaths hard and ragged. "No. No history... on a-anyone from... Shiganshina. _Why?" _

And rather than answer the unanswerable, Eren was reduced to just countering with another question. "Why do you want to know, sir?"

This question, Levi didn't answer. The corporal had never taken the trouble to explain his actions before, and it didn't look like he was going to now; he just continued gasping and blinking, his thin chest heaving with the effort it took to keep breathing through his injuries. Eren was left unsure of what to do; just answer the question to try and help him calm down some more- or let Mikasa decide when her darkest secret should be told and keep silent?

Levi coughed. The sound was short, wet, and terrible; it sounded like he was trying to dislodge a lump from his throat, and then, before he knew it, a thin line of blood had dripped out Levi's mouth to trail down his chin.

Eren stared in horror.

_He's dying. He's- he's really dying. _

Except this was Levi. Levi wasn't supposed to _die. _

"If she doesn't fight, she'll lose. If she loses, she'll die!" Eren gasped- because all he wanted to do was keep Levi calm and _alive_, and he wasn't calm _now, _and if he didn't answer his questions, then he was going to get even worse. "She knows that. She doesn't have anything to lose if she fights. _Why, _sir?! Why do you want-"

"Ordered to f-fight somewhere... else... when you're in danger. W-what would she p-pick?"

_The approaching footsteps were so loud they were crushing booms in Eren's ears, and the ground shook beneath his horse's hooves. The panic beating in Eren's veins was powerful- almost too powerful for him to remain on course. He wanted to break away and fight; running from the Titans went against everything he stood for. But he forced himself to stay still and follow Levi's orders, only listening to the whiz and whir of the 3D MG of his teammates' activating and the battle cries that quickly turned into screams. _

"_Corporal, PLEASE-"_

"_I said no, Eren-"_

"_AGHHHH!" _

"_GOD, HELP US!" _

"_LEVI! SAVE US!" _

_Eren gasped, the sharp cries for help yanking him back to the fights behind them more than any order of Levi's could keep him focused forwards. He turned back, head whipping around and one hand already moving to grasp a blade-_

_Just in time to watch the death of Squad one. _

_Jake was stepped on. Nothing was left but a crushed, lifeless husk with staring eyes and a mouth open in a scream._

_Nathan was pulverized by a squeezing fist. Nothing was left but a spray of blood mixed with fine bone fragments._

_John was eaten alive. Nothing was left at all. _

_Three humans were dead in the space of one second. _

_And Eren saw red. _

"_Fall back! FALL BACK! We're retreat- EREN, NO!" _

"Y-you... or... orders?"

Eren bit his lip and looked away. Levi knew the answer; Mikasa had defied orders in front of him before for just this reason, but he was asking the question anyway. A test of loyalty, maybe- _yes, he's dying, so he decides NOW to test my loyalty-_

_Fucking answer the fucking question. _

"...She'd pick me," he answered reluctantly. _I'm sorry, Mikasa, but I can't lie to him._

"She's obsessed... with... you. Why?"

Shaking his head in confusion, Eren answered impatiently- not a clue as to _why_ Levi was suddenly so interested in Mikasa- and why the _hell_ he was asking all these things _now_. "Because I'm her only family left. Corporal, what's wrong?! Why are you asking about Mikasa-"

"Y-you... c-c-can... protect yoursel... . But s-she s-still doesn't... trust... you... Why?"

Levi looked terrible; the blood coming from his mouth had thickened from a few droplets to a stream, and his skin tone had gone from white to grey. His expression was still desperate but focused, somehow, his words heavy with the weight of command, not pain, and Eren looked frantically out to the horizon again, searching for any signs of help.

But there was nothing. From here all the way out to Wall Rose, Eren could see no signs of civilization. Just an empty land turned dark by the fading rays of the dying sun.

He looked below them to the waiting enemy. The Titans were still below, all right, pawing angrily at the trees and trying their damnedest to climb up to their prey. There were too many to even think of taking them on with 3D MG.

He looked down at his hands and feet. White skeletal structures had taken form fully now, giving him the appearance of limbs, but as for muscles? Ligaments? Tendons? _Skin? _

Those were hours away.

He still couldn't do anything except keep Levi alive.

_He's dying now, but... but I won't let him. I won't let him die. He won't die because of my mistake. _

_I will keep him alive until I can transform. I'll find a way. And I'll get him back to the walls. _

_I promise, Levi._

He couldn't transform yet. So, for whatever reason Levi was suddenly so fixated on Mikasa, Eren was going to keep distracting him and hope it was enough.

"It's not that Mikasa doesn't trust me," he said confidently, and he wrapped the bones of his fingers a bit tighter around Levi's, hoping that the feel of a skeleton holding his hand was comforting and not just fucking creepy. "She does. Mikasa just-" he paused, trying to think of a way to put this without making it sound bad, "...she just cares more about protecting me than fighting Titans. That's all, sir."

Levi's eyes narrowed, and Eren hastened to try and correct his words before the corporal got the wrong idea. "I mean, she hates the Titans. And if one's in front of her, she'll kill it. When- when she thought I died, in Trost, she was the one leading the defenses! It's just..." he shrugged helplessly. "If Mikasa had to choose between helping me and killing a Titan... she would pick me."

And then came the worst question of them all.

"W-what about... you... or... all the Titans? S-s-saving... humanity?"

_I'LL KILL YOU _

_Limbs snapped in his hands like twigs. The head of the one that had swallowed Jake popped in his fist. He rammed his shoulder into the monster, bringing it to the ground with a boom as powerful as an earthquake, and brought his foot up to crush his neck. _

_I'LL KILL YOU ALL_

_The second Aberrant slammed into his side- teeth sinking into his arm and powerful legs wrapping around his waist. Eren stumbled back, shuddering under the weight even as he fell, and caught sight of both his attacker and Levi out of the corner of his eye._

_Levi, still on his horse, had been mere seconds away from firing his 3D MG when the teeth of the third Titan had sank into his cloak. Eren was left watching helplessly as the corporal was yanked into the air- and was now dangling from the Titan's mouth by the hem of the wings of freedom. _

_Eren's attacker had blood dribbling down his chin and a human leg sticking out from between his teeth._

_The image of Levi vanished from his mind._

_I'LL KILL YOU ALL! _

"You or humanity, Eren."

Eren's eyes widened in shock. There was humoring Levi, but then there was- _this_. "What?!" he demanded, and he leaned forward, trying to get a better look at the corporal's strained expression even as he shook his head vehemently. "Levi- uh, sir! How can you even ask me that?!"

"Answer," Levi pressed weakly, insistently, his gaze unfocused, even now with Eren's eyes now directly in front of us, and the corporeal gasped before repeating himself again. _"Answer."_

This time, Eren didn't answer immediately. He was too caught up with wondering just how damn delusional Levi had to be to even be _asking_ this- but when Levi, with another wheeze, coughed up a globule of blood that splattered onto Eren's cheek, his mind came to a stuttering halt.

Levi's condition was deteriorating. Fast.

_Keep talking. Keep him here. Keep him alive. _

"Mikasa would _want_ to save me," he answered carefully, but confidently- and truthfully. "But she's not stupid or heartless. She would never risk humanity just for me. She knows what's important and knows a world where she's unhappy is better than no world at all."

And that must have been the right thing to say, because the moment Eren finished, the sheer desperation on Levi's features faded, and it was replaced by contentment.

The thin, grim line of his mouth relaxed, and the hard fight of each breath vanished. The confusion and concentration vanished as well, expression smoothing out into one of peace, and his grey eyes turned sleepy and tired. His tense muscles and exhausted struggles eased, and in the space of a single second, Eren found himself watch the dying struggles of his corporal become nothing but the dreamlike moments before sleep.

"Ah," he murmured softly, voice beginning to slur, and he smiled- actually _smiled_. His teeth were red with blood. "Good. I see..."

Eren frowned again. "Corporal?" he asked hesitantly, the bones and beginnings of muscle of his hand squeezing tighter again around Levi's cold fingers. "Are- are you all right?"

Levi's tired eyes turned didn't focus on Eren; rather, they seemed to look almost through him, as if he couldn't really see, and the corporeal let out a quiet sigh of contentment. "Wanted to know," he breathed, but to himself, not to Eren, "that... who they've been calling... humanity's second strongest... could really... become the strongest. Good to k-know... that I'm... not... letting anyone... down."

And then, with one final smile, his eyes closed.

Eren sat, frozen.

_Eren abandoned the body of his first victim to heal and launched himself at the second. The sight of human limbs in that bastard's mouth was too much to bear. He ripped the head in half, turning it to shreds, and ignored the thrashing blows from the body in his grip as lowered his mouth down to maul the nape of the neck. He ripped it free, and the Titan was dead._

"_AGH!" _

_The piercing cry of agony stopped Eren in his tracks. _

_That cry was human._

_That cry was familiar. _

_Still chewing the Titan flesh, he dropped his enemy and turned to face the newest danger. _

_His world stopped turning. _

_Levi. _

_The third Aberrant was just standing there, staring at him, grinning- with Levi clenched in between his teeth. _

_The corporal's slender body hung mostly free; it was just that thin sliver of his chest captured within the Titan's mouth. The monstrous teeth were sprayed with black blood from Levi, Eren just KNEW it was Levi's blood- but the corporal himself looked more surprised than in pain; his usually apathetic features were twisted in shock, his eyes wide, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. _

_And the Titan, still grinning, began to reach up to take a bigger bite of Levi. _

_Eren's world went dark._

Levi hadn't been delusional at all.

It hadn't been the illogical ramblings of a hurt man in more pain than he could imagine.

Levi had known he was dying, and humanity's strongest soldier had wanted to know that there was someone who could take his place.

His last words had been devoted to finding a _replacement _for himself.

Shaking from some measure of either pain, rage, or probably some mixture of both, Eren sat back, stunned. Taken aback by the utter selflessness he'd just witnessed, Eren found himself mute and staring- his suddenly blurry, wet gaze taking in all of Levi, really _looking_ at him for the the first time since he'd woken up here on this branch. Not just his face, but _all_ of him- including the injury that he had caused.

All he could see of the right side of Levi's abdomen raw, red flesh. His skin curved inwards; where there should've been the ends of ribs, there was nothing but air. Little chunks of white bone scattered amongst torn muscle tissue, glaring against the dark red blood gently oozing from what was left of his stomach. With each painful breath, his chest heaved, shaking with the effort.

Eren stared down at the powerful image of humanity's strongest soldier- the limp body, the slack limbs, the relaxed face-

And he found himself overcome with a raging, terrible, _heart stopping _fury.

He'd just heard what was supposed to be Levi's last words.

Except they weren't last words at all.

Was that really all he'd cared about? Just that his _job _would get done?!

Eren had seen more than one person give their last words, and Levi's had been the worst. No goodbyes, no regrets, no apologies, no _anything_ but this business-like evaluation to ensure Mikasa was ready to take on being the elite of the elite.

What kind of a goodbye was that?!

Humanity's strongest soldier was _not_ just _humanity's strongest soldier_. Levi was a person, too, a person who didn't deserve to die like this- and what kind of a shit last words did he give?! No _I'm sorry, _no _it's not your fault, _not even a _keep humanity safe- _just _I'm glad Mikasa can replace me_?!

Eren saw red.

He looked down at the still dying man on the branch and clenched his fists, trembling body slowly being overtaken by a rage. "I've got words for you, shit-for-brains," he hissed, and when he realized his eyes felt wet again, he just ignored it. "Mikasa can't replace you because you're not just humanity's strongest soldier. You're our friend, Corporal. She can't replace you as our friend."

And with those words, he knew that it didn't matter anymore that he wasn't fully healed.

Levi thought he was just a corporal in the army, but he was wrong. Like it or not, the bastard was their friend. And he was not going to let his friend die thinking he was worth nothing but as a soldier.

_I am not going to fucking let you die, Levi. _

With a deep breath, Eren carefully slid his arms underneath the corporal's limp body, flinching when the motion drew a tormented whimper from Levi's throat. It didn't sound like it came from the soldier; it was too- too animalistic, too _helpless_, but that wasn't something that he could afford to think on now. "Sorry, sir," he whispered before standing carefully and turning back to face the direction of the walls.

To shift into Titan form, he had to have a purpose. The problem for Hanji's experiments was always that, when he wasn't in battle, he had trouble coming up with a sincere purpose to prompt the transformation.

Now, there was no problem.

_I will protect Levi. _

_I will save Levi. _

_I will bring him home. _


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you all so much for reviewing, and one very special thanks to Tea's for pointing out quite an embarrassing mistake last chapter and being very nice about it. Is fixed now. Anyway, I didn't ever expect the second chapter to take this long; there's really no excuse for me keeping you waiting. I actually wanted to write from Levi's POV and talk a little more about the original battle (what he did after Eren lost it), but originally it was taking longer than I wanted, so I started this instead. Then.. it took a LOT longer. I should come out with that other chapter eventually, but I'm making no promises after this horrible delay. Well, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

The ticking of a clock.

The gentle gust of a wind.

Leaves rustling.

The sounds of peace.

They drifted into Eren's consciousness languidly, taking their time, easing his way from nothingness to the world of the living. There was only sweet darkness at first, a place where he could rest, and he laid there for a while, taking it the sounds of the world and idyllic feel they left him with.

_Why am I... here?_

_Where is here? _

He furrowed his brow, grimacing. His mind felt fuzzy, sluggish; it felt like reaching through yards of mud to even touch the hazy memories of what had happened before he ended up here. Something was wrong. He hadn't just woken up from a natural sleep, that couldn't be it, his mind just felt too hazy...

_I was... outside the walls. Yeah. Outside the walls. _

_Recon mission. With Corporal Levi-_

_LEVI! _

The very name felt like a bolt of lightning. His heart almost stopped and it became hard to breathe, his world frozen around the corporal, the man suddenly the only thing he could remember.

Levi. He'd been with Levi. They'd been trapped up in the trees; Levi had somewhere pulled him up there despite a hole having been chewed out of his chest, saving them both from the murderous, ravenous hordes, but there'd been no hope, had there? He'd been too badly injured... bleeding so much... they'd both seen men succumb to far less on the battlefield, and trapped as they were, away from doctors and medicines, civilization of any kind- Levi was dying. They'd both known it.

_I transformed to try and get him back. It was all I could do. I shifted and then..._

His mind was a blank.

Eren realized, with a terrible, cold jolt, that he had no idea what had happened after he'd shifted into Titan form.

_Is Levi.._

_Did I save him?! Or-..._

_Oh, god, is he dead?!_

_When I broke orders... did I kill him?_

_Is he dead?! _

The faint sounds of a bird's call reached his ears, and it was all he needed to put a sharp stop to his terrible circling thoughts, suck him out of the nightmare outside the walls and make him remember he was back in the present again. If he was alive, he had to be inside the walls... an unconscious human outside was equivalent to a dead human.

But had he made it back with Levi? Had he made it back in time?

Or... had he not made it at all? He'd never shifted into Titan form that badly injured before- had no idea how long he could hold it in that state. Had he shifted back into human form before ever making it back- been found by a Recon squad?

If so, Levi was dead. There was no chance the corporal had been able to hang on long enough to be found.

There was barely any chance Levi could've hung on long enough for him to reach the walls, period- even if Eren had made it back, there was no guarantee that he had survived.

There was only one way to find out.

Breathing carefully, Eren focused all his efforts on the outside world. He felt sore and exhausted, his eyes like they were weighed down by leaden weights. It took all his concentration to keep himself from slipping away again, instead to wake up even more, but did so only with Levi in mind.

_Corporal... please be alive..._

At last, the heavy waves of exhaustion and fatigue receded enough to the point that he could master them. And Eren opened his eyes.

It was bright, rays of what could only be sunlight cast across the cracked ceiling above him. He recognized the stones as the castle, but this wasn't his room in the basement- no windows down there for sunlight to ever get in. Frowning slightly, Eren let his gaze roam around the room as much as he could without turning his head, because the very thought of moving spelled torture.

"Can you not see?"

He froze.

_Oh... my god... _

_Is that-_

_Is that...?! _

With a short, involuntary gasp, Eren twisted his head after the source of the question, the sudden infusion of energy clearing everything up sharply and leaving no more room for confusion or uncertainty. The blur of colors became sharp and clear and shapes turned defined and constant- and the owner of the voice was answered.

Levi.

_Levi. _

_Levi. Is. Alive. _

His heart started beating again, and then, Eren's world once more began to turn.

The elite corporal was sitting back in a chair, his long legs crossed, head cocked to the side. His black eyes were flat and and uncaring, analytical, but the tired rings under them betrayed a vulnerability to what Eren had once thought to be an invincible persona. His apathetic expression didn't reveal an ounce of anything but his usual intelligent examination, but his appearance was still- almost haggard. Not something that Eren had ever seen from Levi before.

In his hands was one of his dual blades- it looked like he'd just been interrupted in cleaning it. Spots of blood marred the otherwise stainless steel, the cloth in one of Levi's pale hands worn and frayed from the scrubbing he was working out of it- somehow, the sight didn't even surprise him, or even look out of the ordinary, at that, and Eren found his eyes searching elsewhere.

He couldn't see Levi's injury.

Where it should have been, the forest green mark of the Recon corps draped over his side. The only evidence that a wound even existed was a peculiar way he sat, slouched to the left, very carefully avoiding but any strain or stress on his right side, and the bloodless cast to his features, complexion bleached from Levi-pale to deathly white.

Somehow, Levi was alive and well.

"C- Corporal..."

And Levi just frowned.

"I asked you a question. Can you not see?"

Shaken, Eren blinked, then managed to stammer, "Y-yes- I mean, no- I- yes, I can see. It... was just blurry when I woke up..." He coughed, trying to clear his dry throat, and the corporal just kept on watching him through hooded eyes. If he was relieved at the answer, he didn't show it- just kept on looking at him like he was expecting something more. Pausing, Eren stretched his fingers before trying to push himself upright into a sitting position- but nothing happened. He didn't even rise a centimeter off the bed. Frowning, Eren tried to do it again, but with less success than before.

Levi's blank gaze narrowed a bit, and the corporal's eyes moved from Eren's to what he was trying to do, and then, he just sighed. Raising the unclean sword in his hand, without saying a word, Levi delicately reached forward, poking the blanket for just a moment before the weapon found a loose thread. Levi lifted the blanket up and and pulled it down with nothing more than a silent look.

Eren's heart, just recently recovered from the shock Levi's voice had given him, almost stopped again.

His arms hadn't grown back.

The skeletal structure he very clearly remembered from before remained, but that was _all _that remained. His skin and muscles grew on to a little past his forearms but then very abruptly stopped to reveal nothing but bone. Just where his humanity cut off and the look of a monster began, there were dark rings drawn around his arm in what looked like permanent marker- seven or eight of them, going back a couple of inches. Some were a clear, vibrant black while the ones farther back were faded, as if several days old. After a moment of shock, Eren glanced at his other arm to find the same thing, then, swallowing, tried to flex his feet.

Same story.

Nothing but bone.

"Oh... oh my god..."

"It's not permanent," Levi said flatly, and he deftly twitched the blade from the loose thread to touch the black circles drawn around his right arm. The cold metal came to rest at the oldest mark, the one highest up, just barely pinpricking into his still healing skin, and the corporal said, "This is where the flesh stopped nine days ago. It has grown, at a slightly accelerated pace, 2.54 inches since then- not counting today's progress. If this continues, Hanji estimated everything will have grown back in another two weeks. Function and strength will still have to be tested, though."

Levi's words did nothing to ease the terrible knot of sickening unease growing in his stomach. Eren just stared, transfixed, at the sight of his malformed limbs, horror rising and rising until, with just as much dexterity as before, the corporal had flicked the blanket back over them, hiding them from view.

Swallowing dryly, Eren coughed again and blinked, trying to focus, looking back Levi- who had returned to cleaning the sword. "Why is it taking so long?" he managed weakly, the picture of bones for hands sticking in his mind, the idea that, no matter what Levi said, he would be stuck like this, giving birth to so much panic that he was proud for what little steadiness his voice contained. "And- and you said nine days- have we really been here _nine_ days?!"

Levi nodded slightly. "Yes, nine days. Yes, you have been unconscious this whole time. And it is taking so long because you defied orders. _Again._"

And with the dark, furious glare Levi focused on him then, the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees, and Eren had to hold back a shiver.

"S... sir?"

Levi's eyes narrowed dangerously. "How healed were you, exactly, when you shifted, shit for brains? Did you not realize it was _dangerous _or are you just fucking clueless? And, so help me, if your only reasoning was to save me, then I don't care what happened out there, I will kick the shit out of you."

Eren blinked in surprise. He opened his mouth to reply, then slowly shut it again- fighting to process the elite corporal's sudden shift. After a short moment passed in utter silence, he managed to reply with a slow, "I still don't know what order I defied, sir."

Levi did not look amused.

At all.

"If you, as humanity's best hope, needs a direct order to not risk suicide, then you're even more brainless than I thought."

The accusation, the typically brazen insults- just the elite corporal being himself- somehow, Levi's anger sparked a chord in him, and Eren remembered back to when _he'd _been just as furious at Levi as the corporal was now at him- and that anger all came rushing back in an instant, and Eren recovered himself enough immediately to give a real retort. "Except I wasn't risking suicide, _Corporal-_ I was trying to save you!"

"Haven't you learned by now that no soldier's life is worth risking yours for, Eren?"

"But I wasn't trying to save a _soldier's _life! I was trying to save _your _life!"

Levi's cold hearted reply was cut off before it began. The corporal blinked, his eyes widening briefly at the reply, a faint surprise coming to touch his features- before they were wiped clean again in an icy show of blankness. Not apathy; jus an unreadable shield.

"...Eren," he spoke carefully, and there was a certain unhappiness weighing heavily on his voice, "you still don't understand- do you? Just how important you are?"

Eren looked steadily back at him, meeting his gaze, the hot anger pulsing inside him a powerful inspiration for a challenge when the soldier who sat before him was colder than ever. He was pretty sure he knew where this was going, but the fuck did his worth to the squad have to do with this. He wasn't going to say he understood, because even if he did know just what Levi was thinking- he also didn't understood.

And he wasn't fucking going to agree to something he did not agree with.

Levi sighed deeply.

"I am humanity's strongest soldier," he said matter of factly, in the manner only Levi could- that wasn't bragging, gloating, or arrogant, just a blatant stating of facts. Facts that happened to be that he was the strongest soldier humanity had ever seen. "If I died, then it would be a serious loss to humanity. But you are still more important. Your mere existence allowed us to retake Trost- before you, we had never been able to retake territory, even with me. You are humanity's greatest hope- _you_. No soldier is worth you risking everything- not even me. Do you even realize that by trying to save me, you risked humanity? _Humanity, _Eren!"

And Levi still didn't understand.

Fuming, Eren wrapped skeletal hands tight around the blanket, fighting to reign in his anger until he could think of something comprehensible to say. How to beat it into the corporal's head that this had _nothing _to do with soldiers, Titans, or humanity- that everything he'd said was worthless because that _wasn't what this was about. _

The elite corporal was upset with him, too- not that Eren was looking for gratitude, but saving someone's life was usually grounds for thanks, not fury. But Levi was angry with him because Levi thought he'd valued humanity's strongest soldier over his own life- he didn't even _realize _that Eren had been trying to save a friend- not a soldier, damn it!

Eren couldn't even begin to think of a way to explain his actions to the man who he was half certain was being intentionally dense. He couldn't even start to force into Levi's skull how dammed _enraged_ it had made him that the corporal's only goal with his dying breath had been assessing Mikasa, and how dammed enraged it had made him to watch his corporal die- with a smile on his face. Glad that he could be replaced.

"You asshole! You don't understand _anything!_"

Levi quirked an eyebrow, as always, taking whatever Eren threw at him in stride and keeping his cool demeanor about him. The corporal just kept on staring at him unblinkingly, then opened his mouth and spoke again- and just as before, there wasn't a single flicker of anything in his voice that made Eren think he was getting through to Levi. "There aren't many people who dare to insult me. You're either incredibly sure of yourself, or incredibly stupid. Given your actions outside the wall, I am leaning towards stupid."

"Can't- can't you ever do anything but insult people?!" Eren yelled- anger boiling over until, suddenly, all he wanted to do was punch Levi in his stupid face. "I'm trying to talk to you and you're not even listening!"

"You are the one who brought insults into this, shit for brains."

"Agh!" Groaning, Eren resisted the urge to just scream in face of the infuriating man's calm retort. "Le- _sir_, fucking _listen _to me! I don't care how good you are, I don't care how many Titans you've killed! I didn't try to save you because you're _important to humanity! _I saved you because_ you're important to me!"_

And finally, Levi's expression was wiped clean.

Righteous anger turned into shock. Cold fury at his misdeeds shifted into blank incomprehension. The corporal's usual impressive, intimidating state had been shattered with that last sentence, making it one of the only things that could render their squad leader speechless that Eren had seen- the _only_ one, in fact, that wasn't a Titan chewing a comrade alive.

But Levi was still Levi, and he recovered himself faster than Eren wanted to admit, the shock transforming into a more understanding, but no less judgmental mask. The corporal shifted his position slightly with a frown, as if deliberating on how best to answer, before he spoke again- a low anger lurking in his voice, a sinister parallel to the rage Eren felt himself right now.

"That doesn't change the situation at all, Eren. And I should hope, by now, you don't need me to explain why."

Eren knew exactly what he was getting at, all right; had gotten the lecture more than once since joining Recon and more than a hundred times in training. Shadis, Levi's old squad, Levi himself, just a few of the line of characters that preached it like it was their doctrine.

And he could concede the validity of it. Haltingly, reluctantly, god damn furiously, he could announce defeat and say Levi and the others were right. Because they were, in a way.

But he hadn't bathed in blood for the decades that they had. He hadn't become so dammed desensitized to the endless macabre violence that he could look at such a situation objectively and not subjectively. And he was still in a place where he could look at a soldier who could turn his back on a friend and leave him to be eaten alive, just because it was _easier, _or _safer_, and feel revulsion.

And Eren looked back at Levi, glaring in a silent challenge, telling him without saying a word that _yes, _he would have to say it again, because there were some things he would just refuse to accept.

Levi did not look happy. In fact, he seethed.

A long moment of silence passed, a silent staring contest that Eren refused to lose. Levi may be able to pull rank, scare the hell out of them all, and even beat them if it was it took to make a point, but this was one point Eren was not willing to budge on.

Levi's glare intensified to a scathing stare, and when that still did not do it, the corporal sighed, lowering his gaze to his lap. When he at last answered, his voice started off as a low monotone, but it quickly grew to one seething with the same kind of rage that beat inside of Eren now.

"Feelings and personal affections don't mean anything to us. What matters in this squad is the effectiveness of a soldier. Sacrificing yourself to save another is only the valid choice if you are less powerful than him; otherwise, you are risking civilians dying and more Titans surviving. Your goal is to bring death to them and keep them as far away from the walls as possible; nowhere in that is saving your friends. We exist for the good of the people, of those who can't, or even won't, protect themselves- we do not the good of _ourselves. _You know this, Eren. Mikasa, Armin- me- we signed up to give our lives for the safety of others. You doing what you did is turning your back on that and saying yeah, we'll die for the people- but only if we're okay with it, otherwise, no, they're fucked."

Eren knew that. Levi had known he knew that.

And it didn't make a dammed difference.

That disgusting hierarchy of who deserved to live, and who deserved to die, where they were lined up in order of increasing physical skill and the less monstrous man eating creatures from hell you could kill, the less you deserved life.

"Yeah, maybe it is. And maybe _you're _okay with being devoured because you're maybe not as important to this fucking war effort as I am. But maybe I'm _not_ fucking okay with that! If that's what we start acting like, then what the hell makes us different from the Titans?! All they do is single-mindedly walk towards their goal, no matter what it costs them, without any kind of kinship or bonds between them! _That's_ why they're so fucking scary! It doesn't matter how many of them we kill, they don't care, even if we beat them down so low there was only one left it would still try to _eat us _because it doesn't care about what it has to sacrifice to get what it wants! It- it's like some kind of fucking _instinct! _Isn't that what makes us different, _better?!_ The Titans don't give a shit! _We_ actually _care _about each other, and this is more than just an instinct to us- even you! You cared about making sure there was someone who- who could _take your place- _you- you fucking prick! That's proof; you still care about us, this, beyond death, because we're not just heartless soldiers! I- I'd rather be a flawed human than a- a perfect Titan soldier, anyway, _sir!_ What kind of victory would it be if we won, but had to resort to being like _them_, those soulless bastards that exist only for the mission?!"

Eren's frayed emotions had snapped somewhere in the middle of Levi's explanation, and just poured out the second he opened his mouth, but he didn't give a shit. Levi wasn't the cool headed emotionless soldier he'd idolized as a child; for some reason his visage and status gave off that impression when it couldn't be further from the truth. He wasn't losing face by having an emotion, and even if he was, it didn't matter. They spent their time risking life and limb, jumping away from huge devouring mouths snapping at their heels, and slaughtering senseless beasts. They'd seen each other at their worst and and then some.

And that, there, was the heart of the matter.

Levi's worst was not fear for himself. It was fear of what would happen to humanity if he died.

_Fucking selfless, arrogant prick!_

If _that _was all their lives were worth, as weapons against the Titans, Eren wasn't so sure he wanted that life.

By the look on Levi's face, Eren guessed that if he were capable of walking, he would've left. As it was, probably trapped in that chair, the corporal had to respond- and Eren waited, angry, breathless, and still, for an answer.

The cold corporal sat silently, stony as a statue with an expression carved from marble. He looked down at his lap, unreadable but not unfeeling, his dark, silky hair hanging over his eyes, shielding the only part of his emotions that he couldn't disguise. Whatever he was thinking was not something Eren could see.

Levi was quiet for a long time. He didn't move save for breath, slow, barely noticeable movements as each breath expanded in his chest. His long fingers still gripped the hilt of his sword, gently, the weapon fitting into his hand as naturally as if it were an extension of his arm, but the faded cloth he'd been cleaning it with had slipped out of slack fingers into his lap.

As minor as the gesture was, the evidence of shock was still there.

At last, Levi's flat voice was heard again.

"Our humanity is worth little, in the end. If we try to salvage it, and start making rules of how we can and can't fight to satisfy some ridiculous definition of morality, or ethics, then we will lose and we will die. War has no rules. Would you rather humanity be moral and dead, Eren? Or besmirched, a history darker than we would like, but alive? Because if you die, we're finished."

He looked away, eyes visible now but gaze distant, focused on some brick in the wall rather than Eren. Distant and detached, cold, a soldier to passion's end, and Eren watched him.

They were more alike than he'd thought.

Not it terms of raw skill, but personality. Eren could see that Levi, perhaps, had been a lot like him, once. Long ago, in his earliest days as a soldier, before he'd become a blade so sharp a simple touch drew blood. Hot-headed, stubborn, unwilling to accept a rule just because it was _a rule._

He wondered what he'd seen, done, and lived to transform into the powerful creature he knew now, then decided to just be glad he hadn't gone that far. Yet.

"I won't subscribe to that, you know. I won't let someone die just because it's safer for me."

Levi didn't look surprised. He just nodded, his gaze still focused away from him, his features still calm. "I know," he said.

Levi was capable to viewing this all in the grand scheme of things. Of stepping back from the little picture to see the big, then acting accordingly. Eren couldn't do that, not when the 'little' picture was a single life, a human being, a flame of existence in dire danger of being snuffed out. Nor did he want to.

"I don't even think I could," he continued on, pressing his point., for some reason he did not know. "When I- shifted..." He paused, thinking back to the darkness in the trees, a man eating army grinning up at them from below. "I didn't even think about any of this. I only- saw _you," _he cut off harshly and swallowed, remembering then the terrible sight of teeth marks buried deep in his chest. "I...I think of you as a friend. And all I thought about was saving you. Not... none of this _humanity _or war stuff. I only wanted to get back here with you."

"Yes," Levi said vaguely. He looked back at him for a moment, his grey eyes piercing in a way that wasn't entirely uncomfortable, the staredown something no soldier of Levi's could be unused to. The corporal watched him unblinkingly for a moment, still and unflappable.

"You will see as I do, someday," Levi continued easily. His tone was not urgent. "When you have done more. You will be able to understand."

"I hope I never do."

Levi watched him for a long few moments after that. His eyes were flat but not unkind, expression guarded but not cold. Eren met his gaze, looking back into the storm of grey for as long as the man would hold it.

At last, the corporal returned all his attention to the simple, mundane task of cleaning his blade.

"You should rest more. The faster you recover, the faster you may enter the field again."

Eren nodded slowly. "...Yes, sir." He obediently shut his eyes. Sleep felt a long way off, at least, a restful one, but the argument had exhausted him more than he wanted to admit. His wrists and ankles ached, his head was starting to pound, and his eyes felt tired indeed.

Outside, the birds chirped again.

It was a long time before the sounds crafted by the outside the world and the ancient, creaking castle were joined by Levi's soft, powerful voice once more. It felt as natural as the rest of what he could hear, and left him on sleep's banks instead of drawing him back.

"May humanity someday learn from you, and be like you, Eren. They no longer need me, or Mikasa, as their model and hero."

He grinned weakly.

* * *

Erwin approached the quiet scene from the door, the only noise in the room the chirping of the birds outside. Eren slept soundly still, his green eye closed, his dark hair limp on the pillow, a sharp contrast to his sallow skin. He had the look of a wraith about him, thin and drained, a skeleton that had perished many years past that they had merely set up here to craft the misconception of life. The stubborn stumps of arms lay atop the blankets now, his skeletal fingers now for the world to see.

_Humanity's savior, huh? _

Erwin looked to the other man in the room, the one that he had once believed would be humanity's defender until his death. Levi was no hero, no godsend; he would never have driven off the Titan threat or been their _savior_\- but he would've fought to his death to stop a single Titan from breaching their walls. He still would- but Eren's existence now gave Levi the possibility of a death that didn't involve a Titan's jaws.

The creak of the door had alerted the man to his presence without him once turning around; Erwin saw it in the slight tilt of his head, the nearly imperceptible stiffening of his posture. He remained silent, waiting for Levi to speak.

"This generation's different."

Erwin glanced down at him without saying a word.

The young man rubbed the cloth down the already shining blade one final time before it disappeared into his fist, and he lay the weapon across his lap. "They're fucking insane, Erwin. Not just this one. Mikasa, Armin, the whole batch. Clingy to their morals in a way that's dangerous."

"One would argue that this is not a bad thing. Moral to a fault, you know."

Levi, still turned away from him, slowly shook his head. He let out a bitter chuckle, and said no more.

"Come on." Erwin moved forward, reaching out to grip Levi's left arm, as firm and steady as he could, leaning down. But Levi did not move.

His expression was unreadable, cloudy eyes narrow in some undefinable emotion yet undeniably focused on Eren. He watched the impulsive soldier, mouth again set in a perpetual frown, his haggard features drawn and dark. "...We were right about his motivation. Fucking brat."

"You could be grateful. He saved your life, after all."

"No one asked him to."

"I would argue that he deserves even more gratitude, then."

Levi didn't retort, and that spoke more than any words could.

Erwin carefully tugged again, and this time Levi responded, spreading his legs and planting his left foot firmly on the stones. He struggled for a second, breathing slow but hard, before he managed to lift himself up off the chair, and Erwin helped bring him up the rest of the way until he was standing on shaking knees. The cloak that had hidden his side fell away, revealing the depression in his shirt where there should've been his chest. Erwin would've called it grotesque, but doing so would've made him a hypocrite.

He took advantage of Levi's inability to speak, his struggles too great, and got in a parting remark. He wasn't able to help it, nor could he stop the smirk that grew. "Don't worry. _I _know you're thankful- and Eren probably does, too. You're not as stone cold as you tried to make him think, and he knows it."

Levi's glare darkened.

The two cripples made their way to the door, painfully, oh so carefully, their backs turned to the room. They didn't see Eren's smile widen.


End file.
